


Rationale

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [28]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Female Friendship, Fix-It, Gen, House Party, Vampire Family, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2014-02-15
Packaged: 2018-01-12 12:21:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1186150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Tara and Jessica are downstairs dealing with the college party atmosphere the best ways they can, Willa's upstairs filling her old roommate in on the situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rationale

**Author's Note:**

> Part one, "Waiting for the Kill."
> 
>  **Original Characters** : Mallory Cambridge

“So you just messaged Mary –”

“Mallory,” Willa corrects, trying to fight the urge to roll her eyes (but it’s Tara who made the mistake, so she knows it’s an honest one, not like if Pam had messed it up on purpose – she’s already starting to feel a little like Margaret Dashwood, if Elinor or Marianne was considerably more sarcastic). 

She’s currently sitting in the passenger seat of the station wagon that Eric claims he found in the house’s garage (which is possibly true, possibly not, it’s not worth worrying about), Tara in the driver’s, Jessica in the back.

“Mallory,” Tara repeats.  “You got a hold of her, said ‘hey, I’m a vampire now, get me into that party,’ and that was that?”

“Not… exactly,” Willa hesitates.  “I got a hold of her and said I needed to get into that party, ‘cause of my dad, which I assume she’ll take to mean that I just can’t stand being around him anymore and I need a break.  And I mentioned y’all were comin’ with.”

“So she doesn’t know you got turned?” Jessica asks, tugging at her earring to straighten out the tangles in the chains.

“She doesn’t know any of us are vampires, actually,” Willa corrects.  “So don’t… don’t say anything?”

“You know that ain’t gonna work, long-term,” Tara points out, glancing at Willa and then back at the road.  “You’re gonna need to…”

“I know,” Willa mumbles.  “I’d just, I guess I’d rather come out to her in person.”

 

* * *

 

They park a couple blocks away from the address that Mallory gave and Willa uses the time it takes to walk over to send a text announcing their arrival; Jessica's fussing with her dress, Tara’s doing pretty much what she came here to do, which is play bodyguard.

“Hey, Tara?” Jessica asks in a whisper.

“Yeah?” Tara returns.

“You think we might be able to get somethin’ to eat tonight?” she asks, and there’s something throaty and just a little unfamiliar but not altogether weird about her voice, which Tara just chalks up to the fact that they’ve been surviving on nothing but leftover TruBlood for nights.  She herself doesn’t love this part, the metaphorical hunt, even if it doesn’t end bad, but she knows that Jessica’s more used to donors, given her so-called royal lineage.

“Well,” she begins, “Granddaddy didn’t say we shouldn’t.  And Mommy mentioned it wouldn’t be unheard of.” 

The three elder vampires had words with each of the younger separate, and it’s pretty much obvious that Tara’s been elected the leader of their little band.  She gets the most executive, official sorts of reminders.

Jessica nods, wrinkling her nose slightly.  “What did Nora say?” she asks.  That’s the most telling, probably, since she’s the most hyperconscious of this whole thing.

“Basically, be careful,” Tara reports.  “Don’t make – I think the way she put it was _daft_ – mistakes.”  She also pretty explicitly said _no killing_ , but that goes with the other.

Before they can muse on this further, they see Willa stop short at the driveway of the modern McMansion this party is being held at and get all but tackled by a girl in a short, sixties-looking yellow dress, which causes both of them to squeal.

“This must be Mallory,” Tara says dryly.

Willa, still halfway wrapped around her old roommate, nods.  “Yeah,” she says, grinning.  “And Mallory, this is Tara and Jessica.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Mallory croons.  Tara notices three things about her right off the bat: her accent is Southern enough but not from Louisiana, she’s at least half-Asian, and most interestingly she’s got a hand tangled rather intimately in Willa’s perfectly-curled hair.  “Darlin’, you’re gonna have to tell me where you managed to make such cool friends.  Aren’t you under house arrest?”

“Why don’t you take us into the party?” Jessica suggests evasively.  “And Willa can fill you in.”

 

* * *

 

“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Mallory exclaims once Willa’s dragged her upstairs.  “I’ve got the guard dog downstairs like you were asking about, so if you want me playin’ spy or whatever…”

Willa sighs, and before she can stop herself she crosses the room and presses her lips to Mallory’s. 

“Whoa, hey, there,” Mallory breathes out.  “Not that I haven’t missed doing that with you, but…”

“You’re confused about what I’m doing here,” Willa surmises.  She flops down on the bed – it doesn’t matter whose bed this is, there are like a dozen guest rooms in this place.  She’s not even sure why she did that just now (it’s not like they haven’t kissed before, plenty of times, they’ve been more or less regular-but-not-exclusive makeout buddies for the better part of the school year) but she can’t take it back, can she?  “And I’m being vague.”

“Yeah, you really are,” Mallory agrees, sitting on the bed beside her friend and offering a worried frown.  “One, if you wanted to come up to make out, I don’t really know why you were asking about the guy I brought as my escort, and two, your skin is really cold.”

“Yeah,” Willa echoes.  She lets her fangs pop, then rolls over to face Mallory almost sheepishly.

“Holy shit,” Mallory (predictably) exclaims.

“Don’t freak,” Willa pleads.  “Just hear me out.”

 

* * *

 

Sometimes Tara wishes she’d gone to college.  It might have opened up some doors that were otherwise shut to her, and who the hell knows, life could have gone a whole lot different. 

Or she could have been in even worse debt while she was still working the same shitty-ass jobs in her Podunk hometown.  Either way.

There are times when the idea appeals to her, but when she’s standing in a room full of college-aged kids, getting drunk and telling inane stories about professors or their fellow students while they play a sloppy as fuck game of pool is not one of those times.  Chaperoning as Jessica giggles and flirts with a couple of vacuous frat boys isn’t, either.

On the plus side, though, the longer she’s around this parade of humanity the more comfortable she is pulling someone aside, glamouring them, and oh-so-politely leaving them a pint or two short of blood.  If that means playing along with this whole game, she’s willing to do it.

So she taps Jessica on the shoulder, flashes a saccharine sort of smile.  “Introduce me to your friends?”

 

* * *

 

Once Willa has briefed her friend on the whole thing, she feels exhausted.  Way more than she had actually experiencing the last couple nights’ events, which is weird, but there you go.  She doesn’t move except to prop her head up with one arm, and Mallory does the same.

“So, you just want me to drag the guard dog up here?” Mallory asks, sounding a little shaky.  “So you can get him to get into your dad’s shit?”

“Pretty much,” Willa nods.  “We’re kind of making this up as we go along.”

“We, you and your – vampire family,” Mallory clarifies.  “God, Will, I mean, I’m happy for you, I guess, if you wanted this –”

“I did,” Willa insists.

“Well, I think it’s your life to do with what you wanna, right?” Mallory continues.  “And you’re getting out of your dad’s fucking shadow, which is awesome.”  She’s never been a fan of the esteemed governor, and she’s not really a fan of overprotective dads period.  “Isn’t it weird, though?”

“What?” Willa murmurs, though she knows.

“Technically, you died,” Mallory says.  “And you can’t have an ice cream sundae or wear silver earrings or – shit, we’re never gonna get to go sunbathing together again.”

All of that is true, and it would be a lie if Willa said she’d considered all of that before she talked Eric into making her.  And sure, she’s gonna miss ice cream and silver earrings and sunbathing with her best friend, but at least so far, she doesn’t regret her decision.

“I know,” she says instead.  “But I think this was the right thing to do.”

“I know,” Mallory repeats, and she reaches out a hand to grab Willa’s.  “It’s fuckin’ weird, but I’m proud of you for deciding it for yourself.”  She lets herself smile.  “Now, let me go track down the boy and your friends and we’ll get going with this.”


End file.
